There's a current claim that "34,000 people die a year from guns", a statistic quoted again on NPR. On its face value, that sounds pretty egregious. Let's do the mental math:
There are 34,000 total gun-related deaths per year by firearms, and this number is not disputed. The U.S. population is 325,255,236 as of Saturday, June 17, 2017, at 1:48 PST (according to https://www.census.gov/popclock/). That means 0.01045% of the population dies from gun-related injuries each year (that's significantly less than 1% of the entire population).
Now what they didn't mention:
• 65% of those 30,000 deaths are by suicide, which won't be prevented by proposed new gun laws.
• 15% are by law enforcement in the line of duty, to prevent bad people from doing bad things.
• 17% are the result of criminal activity: gang and drug-related "gun violence."
• 3% are accidental and negligent discharges.
So "gun violence" accounts for 5,100 deaths. Does that sound out-of-control?
• 480 homicides (9.4%) were in Chicago
• 344 homicides (6.7%) were in Baltimore
• 333 homicides (6.5%) were in Detroit
• 119 homicides (2.3%) were in Washington, D.C.
[a 54% increase over prior years, so 25% of all "gun crime" happens in four cities. Three of the four cities have the STRICTEST GUN LAWS in the nation, proving that legislation isn't working there, except to disarm the victims. This leaves 3,825 "gun deaths" in the rest of the nation (about 75 deaths per state). And that's an average: some States have much higher rates than others; for example, California had 1,169 and Alabama had one.].
Are 5,100 gun-related deaths per year (due to criminal activity) a huge public health issue when compared to other causes of death?
• 40,000 die from drug overdoses.
• 36,000 die from influenza.
• 34,000 people die in traffic accidents.
• 200,000 die from preventable medical errors.
• 710,000 people die from heart disease.
So, the next time someone tells you that gun control is about saving lives, ask yourself: Why do liberals and the media focus on guns, when there are much larger threats to human life?
Now, the problem with MY calculations is that I am using references about gun statistics from 2012 to 2014, while applying those statistics to a current 2017 population. The FBI states in 2016 that homicides are at a record low, as of 2014, so how can leftists claim knowledge on this subject, when statistics are not up-to-date?
FBI States Decrease In Gun Crime
https://mises.org/blog/fbi-us-homicide-rate-51-year-low
Here Is Another Take On Gun Statistics
https://www.google.com/amp/s/fivethirtyeight.com/features/gun-deaths/amp/
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